NFL Draft 2016, Day 2: All the picks, reaction and coverage of Rounds 2-3

Hey did you hear the news? DeflateGate is back? Well, it was never gone, but now it’s really back.

Because of it, the Patriots lost their first-round pick, but they’re not going to just take the punishment. Someone associated with the organization was bound to retaliate or protest in one way or another. And it didn’t take that long either. The NFL Draft wasn’t even over.

Here are 11 picks and player fits that I found the most intriguing.

But seriously, above almost any quarterback in the NFL, he relies on his tight end in the passing game, and there’s a reason that Rivers and Gates hold the all-time NFL record for touchdown connections between a quarterback and pass catcher. With that in mind, the Henry pick makes a lot of sense. Sometimes teams do logical things. I know, it can be jarring.

The Cleveland Browns turned heads earlier this offseason when they hired former baseball executive Paul DePodesta to be their Chief Strategy Office and promoted general counsel Sashi Brown as their new executive vice president of football operations. Now one day into their first NFL Draft, the new leadership’s plan to resuscitate the franchise is obvious: stockpiling draft picks, specifically for 2017.

In just over a week, the Browns have already traded down three times. First with the Philadelphia Eagles, and then the Tennessee Titans, turning their No. 2 overall pick into two additional third-round picks, a fourth-round pick, a 2017 first-round pick, a 2017 second-rounder and a 2018 second-rounder -- in addition to snagging Corey Coleman, the first wide receiver drafted this year, at No. 15.

One of the key storylines people always follow on the third day of the draft is where quarterbacks go. That will be no different with the third day of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Chief among those available is Michigan State’s Connor Cook. Six quarterbacks are gone, and it’s a surprise Cook isn’t among them. Ohio State’s Cardale Jones is a project, but a good one for a signal caller.

Then again, the Patriots did take quarterback Jacoby Brissett near the end of the third round. That is to say, Brissett went before guys like Dak Prescott and Connor Cook. Then the Browns took Cody Kessler, also before those guys.

Cleveland had three picks in the third round and used them to land defensive end Carl Nassib of Penn State, offensive tackle Shon Coleman of Auburn and Kessler. Coleman is notable not just for his strong play on the field, but for the fact that he beat cancer earlier in his career.

At 6’6 and 257 pounds, Vannett has ideal size to play the position in the NFL, and he’s physical enough to be an aggressive blocker and make contested catches. Many college tight ends have a significant learning curve when they arrive in the NFL because they’re more one dimensional than teams prefer at the pro level, but Vannett is fully pro-ready.

Vannett was the 10th Buckeye drafted this year, setting a record for the most players from one school selected in the first three rounds of the FNL Draft.

Shon Coleman had one of the toughest journeys to the NFL Draft. While other draftees were busy on the practice fields in college, he wasn’t fully there. He was getting treated for acute lymphocyte leukemia for 2 full years.

Even during that, Coleman was able to receive his bachelor’s degree in 2014 and his master’s degree in 2015. And that’s not even mentioning his feats on the fields once he was fully healthy to return to football.

The Browns landed wide receiver Corey Coleman with their first-round pick, filling a huge need at wide receiver. They have other holes, including at the quarterback position. Many will wonder if Connor Cook could be the pick at the top of the second round but we’ll have to wait and see.

The second round of the draft will kick off at 7 p.m. ET and will run through to the third round, at which point the second day of the draft will also be in the books.

The Houston Texans have selected one of the more intriguing prospects in this year’s NFL Draft class, taking Ohio State wide receiver Braxton Miller with the No. 85 overall pick in the third round. Miller made his name as a quarterback for the first three years of his college career before a shoulder injury forced him to switch positions.

Miller was a celebrated five-star recruit out of Dayton and earned the starting quarterback role a few games into his freshman year at Ohio State in 2011. In three years, he achieved a lot of success, winning the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award in 2012 and 2013. Unfortunately, his college career got derailed by injuries. Miller suffered a shoulder injury in the 2014 Orange Bowl that required surgery, and he re-injured it during preseason practices, wiping out his entire senior year.

Le’Raven Clark is one of the most accomplished offensive lineman in Texas Tech history, and now he’ll have a chance to make it in the NFL. The Indianapolis Colts selected Clark in the third round, adding him to a roster that now features former Alabama center Ryan Kelly, as well.

Clark, who stands at 6’5 and weighs 316 pounds, entered Texas Tech as a four-star high school recruit. He was redshirted during his freshman year, but still started 13 games at right guard, earning All-Big 12 honors.

Ohio State defensive tackle Adolphus Washington brings a lot of size and athleticism to the NFL, but he’s not without his question marks. The Buffalo Bills are banking on his potential, selecting him with the No. 80 pick in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Washington was a prized five-star recruit out of Cincinnati and stayed close to home with the Buckeyes. He had a productive freshman year in a part-time role, recording three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss, and became a fixture on Ohio State’s defensive line for the next three years.

The first round of the draft garners the most attention, but championship teams are often built on the second and third days. Value is more likely to be found in subsequent rounds, given that clubs aren’t required to shell out large signing bonuses for players.

Myles Jack, A’Shawn Robinson and Mackensie Alexander are three of the top players still remaining. There are other intriguing names to keep an eye on Friday night, including Noah Spence and Heisman winner Derrick Henry.

Despite the limited playing time, Drake did shine in the few opportunities he was given. He starred as a kick returned in 2015, taking a kickoff 95 yards to the house in the National Championship Game against Clemson.

However, Drake is a bit undersized (6’1, 210 pounds) to be an every-down back and has a history of injuries in college, suffering a broken leg and broken forearm. He doesn’t have great hands and is prone to drops, which could limit his value in the passing game.

A former five-star recruit, Bullard arrived at Florida with plenty of hype and made an immediate impact as a true freshman, with appearances in all 13 games and 1.5 sacks. But he bounced around the Gators’ defensive line, playing inside and out, and never turned into a truly productive pass rusher.

Through the first three seasons of his collegiate career, he had 5.5 sacks and added 6.5 more in his senior season, but those numbers pale in comparison to some of the top pass rushers of the draft class. However, Bullard’s prowess as a run stuffer was often on display, as he used his quick first step and punch off the line of scrimmage to blast opposing offensive lineman out of position.

With the No. 70 overall pick, the Baltimore Ravens added one of the draft’s most intriguing defensive prospects by taking BYU lineman Bronson Kaufusi. A highly productive edge defender, Kaufusi boasts an impressive combination of raw talent, leadership, smarts and work ethic that scouts drool over.

Kaufusi, 24, served an LDS mission to New Zealand before arriving in Provo, giving him a unique collection of life experiences that few other fellow draftees can match. His intelligence extends beyond the film room, too: Kaufusi loves stats, and not just the traditional ones. As a statistics major, he is fascinated by the advanced numbers of the game and loves digging into football analytics.

But the pair of talented linebackers needed just one team each to take a risk, and the Cowboys and Jaguars stepped up to the plate. Jacksonville even traded away a fifth-round pick to move up from No. 38 to No. 36 to make the selection.

Reed made himself popular with Seahawks fans right away, paying tribute to Marshawn Lynch with a bag of Skittles:

Safety Vonn Bell is the latest Buckeye off the board, with the New Orleans Saints taking him with the No. 61 overall pick. Bell had garnered a lot of interest since deciding to declare early for the NFL Draft, visiting and attending private workouts with over half of the 32 teams since the Combine.

As a member of a secondary that includes two other NFL-caliber prospects, Bell found success at Ohio State, where he seemed like an interception magnet. In his three years as a Silver Bullet, he recorded 175 total tackles (115 solo), nine interceptions and two fumble recoveries. His sophomore campaign and national championship run in 2014 saw six interceptions, with his first pick-six coming against Minnesota in 2015.

By converting 267 of 276 of his kicks, Aguayo’s 96.73 percent edged the record of 96.67 set by Nebraska’s Alex Henery five years earlier.

In another era, Aguayo likely would’ve been an even earlier draft selection, as it wasn’t uncommon for kickers to go in the first three rounds. From 1992 to 2000, there were seven kickers taken in the first three rounds. But after a rule change made extra points more difficult in the NFL in 2015, the value of a good kicker was more apparent than ever.

No one is having more fun this weekend than Gus Bradley.

The Jaguars’ fourth-year head coach, along with GM Dave Caldwell, is having a true dream draft, and through two rounds the duo has seen an improbable series of events transpire. According to Adam Schefter, the team debated whether to take Myles Jack or Jalen Ramsey with the fifth pick. They took Ramsey, but ended up with Jack after all.

One of the only highlights of his collegiate career came in clean-up duty during a blowout in the Russell Athletic Bowl two seasons ago, when he intercepted a badly underthrown ball:

Other than that, the former receiver mostly played special teams until stepping into the defensive lineup as a senior in 2015. He finished the year with 95 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and one sack, as the Tigers asked Green to play close to the line of scrimmage and blitz often.

Whitehair redshirted in 2011 but played in every game on 2012, starting 12 of them at various positions. He primarily played left guard, where he also started in 2013, when he earned second team All-Big 12 honors. In 2014, he made the full-time switch to left tackle, where he started every game the next two seasons, once again earning second team All-Big 12 honors as a junior and then first team All-Big 12 honors as a senior.

Where Whitehair will play in the NFL has been a topic of some debate, but most settled on calling him a guard in the pre-draft process. More than that, he has been considered the best guard, at the top of what is a relatively weak class at the position. But that is not indication that Whitehair himself is a bad player, just that there were fewer opportunities to grab a top-end guard in this year’s draft.

Jets fans always boo their draft picks, even the good ones. On Friday, Jets fans got to celebrate two franchise traditions: booing the pick, and drafting another terrible quarterback, this time Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg.

Fittingly enough Chad Pennington was there to announce the pick, just to tease the idea that the team once had a decent quarterback.

“I’m 22, but I’m ready to compete with anybody. There’s nobody more dedicated than me, who’s put more time in or is more of a competitor than me,” Alexander said. “I’m here prepared. I’m telling you I’m the best corner in this draft class.”

Alexander also told the assembled media to check the stat sheet if they doubted him. But discerning readers will note that the stat sheet credits Alexander with 44 total tackles, four tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and ... zero interceptions in college. He is credited with just 11 passes defensed on top of that.

Antonio Freeman played eight seasons in Green Bay and when he showed up at the NFL Draft, Bears fans responded exactly how you’d expect.

Freeman knew it was coming and responded perfectly.

Early on, Cravens played safety for the Trojans after committing to Lane Kiffin as a five-star linebacker in the class of 2013. And he did it well, collecting seven interceptions and returning one for a touchdown over those two seasons. But Cravens was also increasingly deployed as a blitzer and merchant of havoc in the box, and excelled in that role too, racking up 17 tackles for loss and five sacks as a sophomore in a campaign that brought him some down-ballot All-American honors.

As a junior, nearly all pretense of keeping Cravens in the secondary was dropped. He continued to thrive as an outside linebacker, leading USC with 86 tackles and nearly repeating his sophomore totals with 15 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Clearly, Cravens had marked himself as a player with significant versatility.